chapter 3

He wasted no more time in breaking up with Seven. The conversation was even more difficult than Chakotay had anticipated. Seven did not take the news well. She asked him if there was someone else, which he denied. He didn't want Kathryn to be in any way associated with their break up. Had their copulation been inadequate? Had she not performed her duty well? Had she not thought of sufficiently diverting topics for conversation or organized engaging joint activities? The mere fact that she thought that everything could be put to rights by trying to tick off a check-list of planned exercises reinforced Chakotay's decision that everything was wrong with this relationship. He told her their age gap was too wide, they had too dissimilar interests and that he cared for her in a way that was not enough for a long-term relationship. She deserved better; someone more in tune with her needs and closer in age.

There were tears...something which would never have happened before she had had her emotional fail-safe device deactivated. There were tantrums. There were objects thrown around the room. There was pitiful pleading. Chakotay decided to pack up his things and leave straight away so as not to prolong the agony. He moved into the Captain's quarters on Voyager...they were his now that all the remodelling had been completed in the crew quarters. Meanwhile, he enlisted the Doctor's help to support Seven. She was endlessly calling him on the comm., messaging him, even trying to come up to Voyager without permission. After three days, he told her not to contact him and blocked her calls.

After two weeks of hiding on Voyager on the excuse of supervising the refitting and preparation for the next voyage, orders came through for Chakotay to join the project team reviewing Voyager's contact with the Borg at Headquarters. The logs would be gone through in fine detail, questions asked of the senior officers. To his delight, Kathryn and he would be working together on this for at least six weeks. Seven and Icheb might be called upon at times, but he hoped somehow he would be able to avoid being too near Seven.

On his first day at HQ, he was relieved to find Kathryn being perfectly pleasant and normally communicative with him. If he wondered that this was just her being professional, it was at least dispelled when she asked him how he was after the break-up. He was pleased that the news had somehow reached her and that she seemed concerned for his well being. He told her was fine, relieved actually. It had all been for the best. There had been no future in the relationship. Kathryn seemed a little surprised by this. Seven, he told her, hadn't taken it that well and might need her support. Kathryn seemed to think that he should have been more understanding of Seven's emotional immaturity and never have let it go on for so long. He couldn't argue with that.

Chakotay was walking on air. Suddenly he felt a burden lifted from himself and Kathryn's proximity was intoxicating. The chance to spend time just acting normally around her, talking, discussing, analysing, sharing coffee breaks, albeit with others around, was wonderful, especially after a famine of five months. There were some lunches too, although she sometimes slipped out to share lunch with Will (he tried hard not to feel jealous) or some of the Voyager former crew. She went to see Seven several times, although she did not divulge what was shared. He hoped that Seven had not been supplying her with some awful character assassination of him.

Chakotay thought Kathryn was looking a lot happier and more relaxed than he'd seen her in years. The absence of the daily struggle to survive, together with the new challenges of her status as Admiral, seemed to be suiting her. Chakotay wanted not to rush things. After all, he'd only just split up with Seven. For the sake of both women, he did not want to dive straight into a new relationship with indecent haste. He didn't want Kathryn to overtly be the reason for his ending things with Seven, even if it was ultimately the truth.

But Kathryn went away for the weekend with Will. He spent the whole time on edge and his patience ran thin, so he couldn't help himself. When Kathryn breezed in on Monday morning fresh as a daisy and full of her usual spunk, he asked her out to lunch. He had a lot he wanted to discuss with her...they needed to spend some time together. Alone. She cried off the first three days of the week, but eventually agreed to Friday. They would have less to do that day, as there was a huge drinks reception in the evening for Federation dignitaries, arrangements for which they could mostly leave to their staff.

Kathryn didn't want a lot of media fuss...the press followed her everywhere she went and lunch with her former First Officer was bound to excite some attention...so they decided on a picnic on the Starfleet campus, well away from the prying eyes of the media. Chakotay knew exactly the spot from his Academy days...a place mid-campus and out of the range of the perimeter security scanners (which he covertly double checked to see if anything had changed.) Kathryn was highly amused at replicating one of his youthful trysts.

Chakotay, nervous and excited, prepared the picnic with the greatest of care, and chose an expensive bottle of wine. After a morning digging over their alliance with the Borg, for which Kathryn didn't seem the slightest bit uncomfortable and defended her actions with ease, they headed out onto the campus. Chakotay spread a blanket on a patch of grass between four of Boothby's flower beds. There were no other people close by, just a few people on distant benches admiring the sweep of the bay. The view from where they settled was less diverting, but the fragrance of the roses was stronger and their privacy was greater. The June weather was cool but thankfully clear and dry. The hamper was unpacked and Kathryn expressed her delight at the fare, particularly the wine.

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